Lorenzo Masini

MEET THE MAKER

I am a product designer who graduated from the ISIA of Florence in 2009 and since then I have carried on my professional activity in parallel, collaborating with numerous studies in product projects, engineering, fittings and interiors, and teaching activity working with IED Florence teaching 3d modeling and holding numerous workshops with Footwearists (Dutch footwear training center) on the subject of: 3d printing, modeling and visual scripting for footwear. Two years ago I decided to deepen the themes of additive manufacturing by doing a Master in Barcelona on Robotics and Advanced Construction, shifting the focus of my work on the integration of 3d printing and robotics in manufacturing and craft processes for the design and realization of small series. My work consists in finding virtuous paths in man-machine collaboration for projects that can be a meeting point between technology and craftsmanship, exploiting the complexity that computational design offers and the high value of the artisan process in order to produce unique objects. , highly customized and at an affordable cost. To do this I take advantage of my direct experience as a designer in traditional processes and materials mixed with my skills in 3d modeling, visual scripting, additive manufacturing and robotics.

I have a lot of experience in 3d modeling and visual scripting both for work and thanks to my academic career; During my career I have worked with numerous technologies including: 3d printing (fDM, SLS, SLA, Large format, mainly plastics and ceramics) Laser cutting, CNC milling machines, Robotic arms with various types of end effector. I use and teach 3d modeling with Rhinoceros and visual scripting with Grasshopper. I have experience with programming in Python and I use Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign of the adobe suite without problems.

In my professional experience I have worked with many types of suppliers in the field of furniture, and I have a certain familiarity with the production processes of wood, metal and glass, both artisanal and industrial; artisan processes interest me a lot, and one of the most interesting experiences I have lived as a designer is the contact with the workers, especially in my project “Host & Home” and “Notorious” illustrated in my Portfolio. I am a great lover of ceramics, and I have attended some courses for amateurs of lathe and decoration; I have a 3d printer for ceramics with which I have done several experiments in the academic field and attended themed workshops.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO TAKE PART IN iATELIER ONLINE PROGRAMME?

The program seemed to me an excellent opportunity to test the skills acquired during my master’s degree in Robotics and Advanced Construction; Having grown up in Tuscany, I am well aware of the merits and excellence of our territory and I would like to understand how this can grow supported by new technologies in the 4.0 industry. The possibility of having a project-container that helps guide research in this sense seems to me an excellent opportunity to be able to experiment in this sense, also helping my professional transition from a simple designer to a facilitator of robotic and additive solutions in the field of craftsmanship.

I like to think that two different ways of thinking can lead to a synthesis where the strengths of one multiply with those of the other, in which the possibilities of some advanced processes can be combined with taste and artisan “know-how” , finding an elegant balance between the two visions, subtracting all the unnecessary.

WHAT IS YOUR FEEDBACK?

I hope to have the opportunity to continue the collaboration with some of the artisan figures involved, in order to expand my knowledge about it.

FINAL PROJECT FOR iATELIER ONLINE

Click to view the PDF presentation of Materia group

The project is realized with the artisans Sandra Pelli and Stefano Giusti from Studio Ceramico Giusti.